Electric is the only way to keep chickens safe

[gotthefever]

Yes yes, Meep Beep, you have the gist of some of the conflugrations where people surely get confused about ef. Part of what put me off from the outset, but now is simple once done.

I do love to research and I read and read and read, here is some great stuff on bears..eek! Thank goodness that is not a worry here. However, If I can deter a bear(serious fur!), I can deter....?

http://www.lwwf.org/index.php/resource-guides I can't quickly post the pdf, but click the link "Electric Fencing Guide" view/download button. and prepare to be amazed at the endless applications....

I have 2 hot wires at the bottom of my run, at 4 in. and about 9in (back to a chain link) If something decides it wants to dig...they have to, at some point hit the "hot". If not, the coop is pretty tight. And the baby monitor is there if there is a ruckus. (not that i would save everyone, but not a complete decimation to be discovered in the am.

I want to have a hot/ground at the top, in case....because a climbing critter (or bird) wouldn't be grounded and not shocked without the ground wire also...I may still do. I did consider just electifying the whole chain link fence...pretty easy since it's already the ground part of the equation...


Note for anyone else reading here...I would NEVER use only single wires for poultry. Especially based on what I observed during research

oooh, and for a giggle...

-A

 

[gotthefever]

So, I read more people surprised by predator losses. It makes me sad. For a family to have some chickens for pets, it is so easy to keep them safe.

Of course option A is to dig underground to incorporate hardware mesh, or maybe pavers or stones, it's labor intensive and expensive and not moveable.

I wanted something moveable, so I could give the chickens new grass and not have to destroy the yard, but enhance it.

Electric is cheaper than digging and pavers, Its moveable. Will stop anything, (what's bigger and tougher than a grizzly?) with a secondary barrier. It may not have to be sturdy. Animals do not use logic like we do. A simple secondary barrier will work. In my opinion if toilet paper held up to the weather it would be acceptable. They just have to see it, they can not work out what it is or its tensile strength.

My kids (4 of them, 12, 8, 6, 4) have not been shocked yet. Well the 8 year old thinks she might have been lol.

Snakes have to be stopped with smaller mesh. avairy would be fine. They eat eggs not chickens and they don't move at night.

Weasel family...tough one...small mesh that they have to hit the wire chew through. or add odd items here and there... they are afraid of new things. Maybe a new chair a strange kid toy every month or so? Main thing is that they can not get into the coop.

Edited to Add:
Talking snakes in PA, we don't have warm temps and rat snakes don't behave like those things in FLA. I am glad of any snakes that live around here. Field mice come in my house every dang year.

 

[carikermoon]

Okay, I have to share my experience. I was keeping my kids' silkies in a small moveable pen that was in a different part of the yard every day but putting them in the garage at night (because of raccoons, foxes, coyotes, opossums, and bobcats). One would disappear during the day, no feathers or body parts but everyone would be freaked out (including the cats) so I figured hawks. Then a frantic neighbor called one afternoon--it was a HUGE raccoon. It apparently was helping itself to one of the chickens and taking it elsewhere--during broad daylight!

The next day I bought an electric fence kit and set up a small perimeter. Wasn't optimal because had to be plugged in at the house. I also brought home a rescue Rottweiller (not house broken, not trained, probably not my smartest idea). My boys (7 and 11) loved both the fence (they dare each other to touch it and the shock isn't too bad) and the BIG dog.

Have to upgrade the yard fence to 6", so I keep the Rottie inside but tie her up outside when we're outside working. A week later, I bought a used solar power thingy (yeah, that's the technical term) so that I could use more of the backyard. Wasn't sure what I was doing but it didn't seem to work when I set it up (hey, it only cost 10 bucks so wasn't too bummed about it). So I left it for a bit and started cleaning out the car. Meanwhile the Rottie had wound herself around a tree so I walked over to untangle her by first taking her off the lead and BAM! She made a beeline for the car because she loves car rides.

Unfortunately the electric fence was between her and the car.

She bulldozed her way through, ripped the posts out of the ground, dragging the internal pen and squawking, terrified chickens about a yard before she got free of the wiring, leaped into the car, and hunkered down in the backseat floorboard. I couldn't get her out of the car (she weighs about the same as I do) so I rolled windows down part way and shut her in. Then I turned my attention back to the pen. The chickens had gotten out so I ignored them and went over to untangle the fence panels and HOLY #*^#^#%#*#! I think the whole neighborhood heard me. That fence was HOT and a heckuva lot stronger than the plugged in version--no wonder the Rottie wouldn't leave the car!

So I turned off the solar thingy and THEN fixed the electric panels. Put the pen back into the electric enclosure. Then got treats and a leash for the Rottie and finally coaxed her out of the car. Together we headed to the house when she stopped and assumed her "sumo warrior" pose. A silkie pullet was standing on the doorstep--stupid me, I forgot to put the chickens back in the pen. I braced myself to keep her from the chicken when she suddenly dragged me in the opposite direction. With my arm practically pulled out its socket, I had to toss twigs and pebbles at the chicken to get it to retreat from the backdoor...and even then the Rottie dragged me all the way around the perimeter of the backyard, scraping me against the yard fence until we arrived back at the backdoor but at the furthest possible distance away from the silkie pullet. And then she dragged me into the house to keep away from the pullet.

It's been a few weeks and I still don't fully trust her (untrained, remember?) but whichever side of the yard I put the chickens pen, she stays on the opposite side of the yard. She also acts deathly afraid of the garage (where the chickens stay the night). When I let the chickens free range (while I'm working in the yard) they brazenly get awfully close to her, and she just tries to put as much distance between them and her as physically possible.

Eventually, I would like to make a coop that I can trust the chickens to stay in overnight and get them out of the garage. Ideally, the Rottie will stay outside to deter raccoons, foxes, coyotes, opossums, and bobcats while the electric fence deters the Rottie. After seeing her interaction with the solar powered fence, I think it just might work.

ETA opossums and bobcats ... I had no idea how many predators lived in the suburbs until I brought home chickens!